Scottish Executive

Environment

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to monitor the use of biosolids in the restoration of former opencast sites.

Allan Wilson: Monitoring the use of biosolids in the restoration of former opencast sites is an operational matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

  In the case of Dalquhandy, it appears that the sludge is to be spread under a paragraph 9 exemption from the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994, which requires ecological improvement to be demonstrated to the satisfaction of SEPA. It is quite possible, however, that sludge might be used for restoration under different regulatory regimes. Establishing the regime applicable, and then applying it, are both matters for SEPA.

Fisheries

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what encouragement it received, either directly or through Her Majesty's Government, from the European Commission to review its Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance programme to increase its share of the £2.6 billion European funding to offset the impact of reduced fishing and to draw on other EU structural funds, as reported in the Commission's press release of 15 January 2004.

Allan Wilson: The European Commission has publicly reminded all member states of the provision for socio-economic measures under its financial instrument for fisheries guidance (FIFG) and encouraged their use to offset the impacts of reduced fishing opportunities. The scope to make significant adjustments to around £60 million which is available to the 2000-08 Scottish FIFG programmes without adversely impacting on the support available to other groups is limited but priorities are being kept under constant review. In 2003 the Scottish Executive therefore made available an additional £50 million of national, non-FIFG, resources to the fisheries sector to support a £40 million decommissioning scheme and a £10 million transitional aid scheme.

Homelessness

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis has been carried out of the impact on homelessness of legislation relating to housing passed during the Parliament's first session.

Ms Margaret Curran: The homelessness monitoring group has a role in monitoring homelessness generally, including the housing dimension, and reports progress against the Homelessness Task Force recommendations to ministers on a regular basis.

Housing

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure the availability of good quality affordable housing for public sector workers, broken down by local authority.

Ms Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Ministers have given a commitment to provide 18,000 new and improved homes for social rent and low cost home ownership in the three years up to 2006. This new housing will be available to meet the most pressing housing need, including that of public sector workers.

  The principal mechanism for funding this new affordable housing is the Communities Scotland Development Programme. The table below shows the planned number of housing approvals in each local authority area in the current year.

  


Unit Approvals (2003-04)



Unitary Authority

Unit Approvals



Aberdeenshire

91



Angus

116



Argyll and Bute

119



City of Aberdeen

202



City of Dundee

221



City of Edinburgh

340



City of Glasgow

1702



Clackmannanshire

33



Dumfries & Galloway

146



East Ayrshire

43



East Dunbartonshire

10



East Lothian

25



East Renfrewshire

76



Falkirk

56



Fife

247



Highland

260



Inverclyde

179



Midlothian

14



Moray

104



North Ayrshire

77



North Lanarkshire

310



Orkney

61



Perth and Kinross

181



Renfrewshire

346



Shetland

49



South Ayrshire

81



South Lanarkshire

356



Stirling

111



The Scottish Borders

59



West Dunbartonshire

218



West Lothian

100



Western Isles

67



Total

6000

Maternity Services

Murray Tosh (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it, or any of its agencies, publishes statistics on babies born in transit to maternity hospitals and, if not, whether it will consider publishing such statistics in future in relation to the impact of greater centralisation of service delivery arising from rationalisation of consultant-led maternity services.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of the Common Services Agency is the main agency that publishes information on births and maternities. ISD has no plans at present to publish these statistics. However, if a clear intent was identified the figures on babies born before arrival at hospital could be incorporated in the Women and Children's Health pages on the ISD website. It should be noted that these data include all babies born before arrival in hospital i.e. those born at home or elsewhere as well as those born in transit.

  The following table shows the number of babies born before arrival to Scottish hospitals (not specifically in transit) for 1998-02.

  


Year

Amount



1998

231



1999

247



2000

240



2001

211



2002p

253



  Source SMR02, ISD Scotland.

  Note: pprovisional.

Maternity Services

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the expert group on acute maternity services (EGAMS) technical reference report, that notes that maternity services should have on-site adult intensive care, will take precedence in maternity policy over EGAMS guidelines that state that specialist maternity units should have access to adult intensive care.

Malcolm Chisholm: It is for NHS boards to assess the relative risks and ensure the provision of a safe, effective and high quality maternity service balancing risk and taking cognisance of existing infrastructures, demographics and support mechanisms on a local and regional basis. The EGAMS report is a consensus view to advise health boards.

  The definition of level IIc and level III maternity units is consistent across both reports including the issue of access to adult intensive care. The risk section of the technical report also makes reference to the recommendation in the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths (CEMD 2001) regarding on-site adult intensive care in these units. The expert group agreed that "access to" adult intensive care was sufficient to provide clinical safety with the provision of the right risk management, transport and support infrastructures. However the optimum arrangement would be co-location of adult intensive care facilities.

NHS Equipment

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4244 by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 December 2003 and in light of the charitable funding of some equipment, what the gap is between how much equipment is needed by the NHS and how much equipment can be purchased through capital budgets, broken down by NHS board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: This is a matter for NHSScotland bodies. The information requested is not centrally available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

NHS Finance

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding will be required by each NHS board area to meet the costs of the backdated payments to April 2003 as a result of the new consultants' contract.

Malcolm Chisholm: The level of funding required by each NHS board area will be determined by the job plans agreed between individual consultants and their managers over the next few months.

Planning

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the report by the inquiry reporters unit into the Lower Clydesdale local plan will be concluded.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The reporter has advised that the report he is contracted by South Lanarkshire Council to prepare is complete. The report was delivered to the council on 10 November 2003.

Prison Service

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4132 by Cathy Jamieson on 26 November 2003, what its position is in respect of the statement in the report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons on HM Prison Inverness that "two members of staff had recently been required to attend a central belt court to give evidence that a prisoner had grown a beard" and what action it is taking to address such situations.

Cathy Jamieson: The prosecution or defence decides whom to call as witnesses in a criminal trial. The Scottish Prison Service's (SPS) job is to respond promptly to these criminal justice requirements; though this may occasionally disrupt the work of the prison we seek to keep this to a minimum. This will be assisted by the move to the new prisoner escort contract which SPS has put in place.

Social Inclusion Partnerships

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the administration costs have been in each social inclusion partnership in each year of the operation of the partnership.

Ms Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The amounts claimed in each year are show in the following tables.

  


Social Inclusion Partnership
Administration Costs
1999-2000
£
Administration Costs
2000-01
£



Great Northern

0

20,000



Arbroath 1

0

N/A



Argyll and Bute

0

0



Edinburgh North

53,888

51,575



Edinburgh South

0

17,889



Edinburgh Strategic Programme

26,172

12,450



Edinburgh Youth SIP

3,959

13,512



Edinburgh Craigmillar

40,717

40,185



Alloa South and East

2,022

7,616



Dundee Young Carers

1,122

2,500



Dundee SIP1

57,000

50,100



Dundee SIP2

19,317

10,950



Dundee Xplore

5,488

10,250



East Ayrshire Coalfields

0

0



Tranent

0

0



Levern Valley

0

0



Falkirk

0

1,171



Fife

18,775

819



Frae Fife

2,344

4,119



Glasgow Smaller Areas

27,500

17,972



Glasgow Anti-Racist

12,583

19,513



Glasgow Big Step

7,088

12,825



Glasgow Drumchapel

18,750

47,747



Glasgow East End

54,437

54,650



Glasgow Gorbals

5,297

14,425



Glasgow Greater Easterhouse

70,000

78,525



Glasgow Greater Govan

3,781

9,011



Glasgow Greater Pollok

18,113

31,103



Glasgow Milton

2,810

14,100



Glasgow North

81,350

65,805



Glasgow Routes Out

3,515

7,828



Glasgow Springburn

1,386

17,422



Highland Well-Being

0

8,891



Inverclyde

63,020

48,900



Moray Youthstart

0

8,021



North Ayrshire

16,900

797



Motherwell North

29,897

36,176



North Lanarkshire

18,491

17,469



South Coatbridge

5,096

13,637



GO – Perth

1,136

0



Renfrewshire – Ferguslie Park

13,450

20,365



Renfrewshire Paisley

72,025

70,798



Scottish Borders

0

599



Girvan

0

5,370



North Ayr

28,325

31,711



Blantyre/ North Hamilton

0

0



Cambuslang

0

0



Stirling – SPUR

13,251

11,074



West Dunbartonshire

41,702

38,220



West Lothian

4,700

6,400



Total

845,407

952,490



  Note: 1Arbroath SIP, a former Regeneration Programme, ended its designation in March 2000.

  


Social Inclusion Partnership
Administrative Costs
2001- 02
£
Administrative Costs
2002- 03
£



Great Northern

21,250

21,781



Argyll and Bute

0

0



Edinburgh North

57,662

54,127



Edinburgh South

26,118

36,535



Edinburgh Strategic Programme

12,756

9,072



Edinburgh Youth SIP

13,956

13,887



Edinburgh Craigmillar

44,457

44,565



Alloa South & East

23,407

25,950



Dundee Young Carers

2,600

2,732



Dundee SIP1

52,250

57,644



Dundee SIP2

10,446

10,678



Dundee Xplore

14,806

13,905



East Ayrshire Coalfields

30,000

30,000



Tranent

0

0



Levern Valley

0

0



Falkirk

0

0



Fife

0

8,263



Frae Fife

0

1,733



Glasgow Smaller Areas

32,292

48,037



Glasgow Anti-Racist

14,499

21,383



Glasgow Big Step

11,183

13,334



Glasgow Drumchapel

49,154

71,063



Glasgow East End

53,661

77,921



Glasgow Gorbals

14,941

20,461



Glasgow Greater Easterhouse

64,550

94,073



Glasgow Greater Govan

17,315

33,812



Glasgow Greater Pollok

55,089

83,171



Glasgow Milton

18,262

21,497



Glasgow North

55,992

83,740



Glasgow Routes Out

6,629

8,408



Glasgow Springburn

16,152

24,200



Highland Well-Being

0

0



Inverclyde

48,330

49,540



Moray Youthstart

0

0



North Ayrshire

1,552

0



Motherwell North

39,246

37,408



North Lanarkshire

21,140

12,656



South Coatbridge

18,235

19,455



GO - Perth

0

5,279



Renfrewshire - Paisley 1

86,725

74,487



Scottish Borders

3,992

2,983



Girvan

0

0



North Ayr

38,925

0



Blantyre/ North Hamilton

1,440

0



Cambuslang

1,440

0



Stirling - SPUR

11,815

10,830



West Dunbartonshire

50,634

50,110



West Lothian

3,010

0



Total

1,045,911

1,194,720



  Note: 1Includes Ferguslie Park.

Social Work

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many respite care weeks have been provided by each local authority in each of the last five years.

Mr Tom McCabe: This information is collected by Audit Scotland as part of their performance indicators for social work. Indicator 9 collects information on respite care nights and is available for each local authority for 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03 from the Audit Scotland website at:

  http://www.accounts-commission.gov.uk/performance/compendium/service/index.htm

Speech and Language Therapists

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many speech and language therapist posts were vacant in each of the last five years.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information on vacancies is reported annually by NHS trusts. Establishment and vacancy figures across Scotland for qualified speech and language therapy staff for each of the last five years are shown in the following table.

  Speech And Language Therapy Vacancies Whole Time Equivalent Trend: At 31 March 1, 2

  


Establishment

1999 1, 3

2000 1

2001 2

2002 2

2003



660.9

640.8

773.0

790.0

 837.1



Vacancies

44.6

25.9

45.6

57.2

55.7


Vacancies As Percentage
Of Establishment

6.7

4.0

6.2

7.2

6.7



  Source: Allied Health Professionals vacancies ISD(M)36, ISD Scotland. The vacancy figures relate to posts vacant at 31 March (except for the 1999 figure, which relates to posts vacant at 30 April), irrespective of when the vacancy arose.

  Notes:

  1. Figures for 1999 and 2000 should be treated with caution because, in each year, two Trusts did not provide the requested information.

  2. Figures for 2001 and 2002 should be treated with caution because, in each year, one Trust did not provide the requested information.

  3. The 1999 survey was changed to be collected at 30 April instead of 31 March. This was due to Trust configuration.

Water Charges

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to improve access to the current water and sewerage charges reduction scheme for band A and B households.

Allan Wilson: The Executive has announced that the current scheme will continue beyond 31 March 2004. The scheme will assist those households that are in receipt of council tax benefit and would otherwise have to pay for water services at a rate substantially in excess of that paid by households occupying properties in council tax band A. Band B households in receipt of council tax benefit will be among those that benefit from the scheme.